Tuesday, February 06, 2007

ALGERIA: POLICE ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON GSPC FUNDS

Algiers, 6 Feb. (AKI) - Algerian security officials have said they will not only hunt down militants hiding in the country's mountainous areas but also funding and money laundering activities of the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat, the only Islamist terror group to have remained active in the country. Algerian national security chief Ali al-Tunisi told London-based Arabic daily al-Zaman that the police are training 50 officials who will work to track down funding for GSPC, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.

An Algerian insurgency started in 1992 after authorities cancelled elections an Islamist party was poised to win.

The insurgency is now mainly conducted by the GSPC with an estimated 500 militants, significantly less than in the 1990s when some 30,000 insurgents operated in the country. Militant strongholds are located in Algeria's mountains and parts of the southern desert and GSPC revenues mainly stem from drug trafficking, kidnappings and extortion.